Jerry Moffatt's Revelations

by Björn Pohl - UKC Feb/2009This news story has been read 938 times

The word revelation, means "the revealing of something previously unknown". I've read Jerry Moffatt's autobiography, written in close co-operation with Niall Grimes. And yes, the title is fitting. Many of the facts and anecdotes from the book, were previously unknown, at least to me.

I really liked it and don't want to spoil the fun for anyone, so here's by brief review:

Jerry starts climbing and gets obsessed. For some years he's the total climbing bum: homeless with a severe climbing addiction. He seems driven by an extreme urge to prove himself. He does. First by making his mark in the UK, then internationally. In the mid 80-ties, he was, without a doubt, the best sport climber in the world, and before retiring from competition climbing in 1990, he was ranked #1.

Jerry was ahead of his time and always tried to come up with new innovative ways of getting an edge on his fellow "competitors", both physically and mentally. It didn't matter whether it was about climbing the hardest routes, winning climbing competitions or succeeding in business - he needed to be the best at what he did. Of course he had his set backs, such as overuse injuries, MC-accidents...etc, but he never gave up.

On a historical level, it's very interesting to get a peek "behind the scenes" at what the legends of the era, like Güllich, Jibé, Moon, Rabatou, Albert, Kauk, the Menestrels, Bachar etc. were like and what they did and how.

In a way, I wish I had read this book 20 years ago, when I was 17, because it's really inspiring, and it shows how hard work really pays off, but in other ways, it was probably for the better that I didn't...